Countering Normalization of Sexual Harm, Exploitation and Violence: Making Prevention a Priority

Cordelia Anderson has worked for over 30 years to prevent sexual abuse, exploitation and other types of violence. She has conducted over 2,000 presentations/trainings nationwide and She is currently working on both State and National Summits on prevention. In addition, Cordelia has appeared on a wide variety of local and national media, including ESPN and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Cordelia is on the executive board of the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children and is the chair of the National Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Exploitation.

This keynote address examines today’s sexually toxic environment and the four factors creating this shift: technology, commercialization and marketing, pornography and hyper-sexualized mainstream media. Living in a sexually toxic society means we are all affected to various degrees from the resulting normalization of sexual harm in both our personal and professional lives as well as the lives of our clients. To counter this normalization and prevent further harm, we need to recognize these problems as health, public health and public safety concerns; engage others who care deeply about these and related issues; identify our role; and become champions for prevention.